December 2008 Archives
There are 63 entries in this section.
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December 31, 2008 10:05 AM
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California Sues Over Endangered Species
One of the nation's most biodiverse states has taken the Bush administration to court to reverse last-minute changes by the Department of Interior to the Endangered Species Act. The changes...
December 30, 2008 11:32 AM
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Bush Science Advisers Offer Regrets, Advice
It's not often that White House science advisers suggest how the next Administration might want to do things differently. But that's what the outgoing President's Council of Advisors on Science...
December 29, 2008 12:31 PM
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U.S. Science Academy Official Detained in Tehran
A member of a U.S. scientific delegation headed by the President of the Institute of Medicine was interrogated for 9 hours earlier this month in his Tehran hotel. The...
December 28, 2008 11:58 AM
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Inside Help for French Geologists?
A scandal appears to be brewing among French geologists and other earth scientists. According to a full-page story in the 26 December 2008 issue of the French daily Le Monde, members...
December 23, 2008 4:35 PM
University Bans Researcher From Industry Talks
Emory University has taken the unusual step of banning one of its own, prominent psychiatrist Charles Nemeroff, from collecting industry money at certain speaking engagements. The decision comes after Nemeroff...
December 23, 2008 1:53 PM
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British Animal Activists Convicted
In a verdict that U.K. scientists see as a turning point in efforts to protect animal researchers against illegal attacks, a British court yesterday convicted four people of conspiring to...
December 23, 2008 11:17 AM
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South Korea Aims to Boost Status as Science and Technology Powerhouse
SEOUL—South Korea is better plugged into the Internet than any other nation, and its economy is dominated by megacompanies like Samsung whose inexpensive consumer electronics are now sitting under millions...
December 22, 2008 5:18 PM
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More Scientific Fallout From Madoff Scandal
The Picower Foundation is the latest U.S. charity to be sunk by Bernard Madoff and his self-admitted $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Researchers are reeling from the blow to the foundation,...
December 22, 2008 2:17 PM
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Obama Adds to Science Team
On Saturday, President-elect Barack Obama confirmed that John Holdren will be his White House science adviser, a pick first reported here on ScienceInsider last week. The Harvard University professor, a...
December 22, 2008 1:27 PM
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Italian Particle Smasher a Step Closer to Reality
Italian physicists' hopes of getting their own particle smasher got a boost on Friday, when a national funding agency announced it would provide seed money to hammer out a detailed...
December 19, 2008 4:07 PM
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Obama Stacks the Energy and Climate Deck
So far, President-elect Barack Obama's scientific appointments are heavily skewed toward one piece of the vast U.S. scientific enterprise: energy and climate research. Researchers in those communities were generally thrilled...
December 19, 2008 2:40 PM
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Google to Close Science Data Archive
In the last 2 years Google and its nonprofit spinoff have launched a variety of science projects in areas ranging from astronomy education to lunar exploration to making electric car...
December 18, 2008 3:49 PM
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Obama Advised Not to Fire NASA Administrator
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin may be under fire for his alleged rude behavior toward the Obama transition team, and he's said he doesn't expect to keep his job. But Representative...
December 18, 2008 12:38 PM
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Sources: John Holdren to be Nominated as Obama's Science Adviser
Strong indications are that President-elect Barack Obama has picked physicist John Holdren to be the president's science adviser. A top adviser to the Obama campaign and international expert on energy...
December 18, 2008 12:15 PM
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Academy Calls for More Changes at EPA
The National Research Council has just issued another report calling for substantive changes in how the Environmental Protection Agency conducts risk assessments of hazardous chemicals. Earlier this month, an NRC...
December 17, 2008 7:14 PM
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Astronaut Declines Presidential Invitation, Science Her Excuse
She sends regrets, from orbit Image via Wikipedia Astronaut Sandra Magnus won't be joining her six fellow crewmates in the presidential inauguration parade in which they've been invited to march...
December 17, 2008 6:55 PM
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Interior and Ag Secretaries Continue Focus on Energy
President-elect Barack Obama continued last week's theme of energy independence—think Steve Chu. Today's announcement of his choices to lead the departments of the Interior and Agriculture focus instead on resources...
December 17, 2008 2:06 PM
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U.K. Science: Hot or Not?
At the stroke of midnight in the United Kingdom, university officials and scientists from 159 higher education institutions began poring over a much anticipated—and feared—report to see how their work...
December 17, 2008 10:42 AM
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Kaiser Permanente Cashes In on Biobank Plans
Health care provider Kaiser Permanente has finally landed the money it needed to fulfill plans for a massive DNA biobank. It has just announced receiving an $8.6 million grant from...
December 16, 2008 5:33 PM
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Obama's Education Pick Gets Science
The science education community is adding its voice to the chorus of praise accompanying President-elect Barack Obama's selection of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. As CEO of Chicago Public...
December 16, 2008 3:03 PM
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The Madoff Scandal's Impact on Science
The Science Careers Blog has a nice summary of what we know so far about the impact of the Bernard Madoff scandal on scientific institutions and philanthropies that donate to...
December 15, 2008 5:17 PM
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U Penn Museum Criticized for Staff Cuts (Updated)
Archaeologists around the world are condemning the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology for laying off 18 researchers, in particular one of the world's leading archaeobotanists, Naomi Miller,...
December 15, 2008 4:52 PM
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IOM to Obama: Get Your Act Together on Global Health
A new Institute of Medicine report released today by a prominent group of scientists and former public officials on a global health committee has a message for President-Elect Barack Obama:...
December 15, 2008 11:36 AM
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A Nobel Prize for Overblown Controversy? (Update)
Last week, the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony took place in Stockholm, but not everyone was celebrating. A brouhaha erupted when a Swedish government anticorruption official told the media he...
December 15, 2008 9:01 AM
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Obama Tapping Critics at FDA?
Two of the most likely candidates to take over the beleagered U.S. Food and Drug Administration have been vociferous critics of the agency. The Wall Street Journal says Steven Nissen...
Scientists Seeking Stimuli
A collection of U.S. research universities is making the case for science to be included in legislation aimed at reviving the moribund economy. In a letter today to President-elect Barack...
December 12, 2008 3:37 PM
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Cali Lawmakers Get Specific on Greenhouse Cuts
California regulators yesterday laid out a plan to cut the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over the next 12 years. That blueprint is the most ambitious greenhouse gas–reduction plan...
December 12, 2008 2:18 PM
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Austrian Scientists Face a Massive Budget Cut--or Do They?
Austrian scientists are in a cold sweat after learning that they could face a 90% budget cut. That bomb was buried within a draft budget document released 2 weeks ago,...
December 12, 2008 12:21 PM
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Obama's Green Team ...
… gets full and mostly positive coverage today in the Washington Post's take on Energy nominee Steve Chu and their look at Carol Browner, Lisa Jackson, and Nancy Sutley, his...
December 12, 2008 10:58 AM
Bioethics Day at the Vatican
The Vatican has just issued a new document addressing the morality of various developments in biotechnology, including in vitro fertilization, germ line gene therapy, and so-called altered nuclear transfer (ANT)....
December 12, 2008 12:14 AM
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More on The Spartan's Big Nuclear Physics Win
See ScienceNOW for details on Michigan State's surprising snag of a $500 million accelerator project......
December 11, 2008 4:47 PM
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Biologist Fights Harassment Training
A 64-year-old biologist who's been teaching in the University of California system for 30 years is refusing to undergo sexual harassment training and has been made something of a cause...
December 11, 2008 12:50 PM
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Putting the E back into DOE: Three Ways Chu Could Energize Energy
Steve Chu could be a groundbreaking energy secretary for the energy research efforts of President-elect Barack Obama's Administration in several ways. It's not just that Chu will be the first...
December 11, 2008 12:14 PM
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University Team Beats National Lab for $500 Million Atom-Probing Machine
A new $500 million nuclear physics facility will be built at Michigan State University in East Lansing, the U.S. Department of Energy announced today. Known as the Facility for Rare...
December 10, 2008 5:59 PM
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Chu for Energy Secretary?
CNN, MSNBC and the AP are reporting that Steve Chu will be named president elect Obama's Secretary of Energy. If this story is true -- and the transition team is...
December 10, 2008 5:11 PM
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Psychological Tests for Bioagent Researchers?
Should academics who work on dangerous pathogens be required to undergo periodic psychological evaluations to ensure that they are not mentally imbalanced as U.S. Army researcher Bruce Ivins appears to...
December 10, 2008 5:06 PM
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U.S. Residents Keep Out
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA—Most scientific meetings don't need bouncers. But a Novartis stand at the annual gathering of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene had two guards—just to keep...
December 10, 2008 4:21 PM
Bush Loses Latest Round on Nanotech Safety
The tug of war over the best way to ensure the safety of nanotechnology is nearly over. The Bush Administration has lost ground. Its longtime critics in the U.S. Congress,...
December 10, 2008 3:45 PM
A Green Mayor Moves to the White House
President-elect Barack Obama will reportedly name Nancy Sutley as head of White House Council on Environmental Quality, the top environmental post in the White House. Sutley is deputy mayor for...
December 10, 2008 1:29 PM
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FDA Mooooves Away From Ban on Livestock Antibiotics
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has quietly dropped plans to halt the use of certain long-term antibiotics in animals that end up...
December 10, 2008 12:43 PM
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Safety Plan Needed for Nanotech
The U.S. government lacks an effective plan for ensuring the safety of nanotechnology, a new report concludes today. The report, by the National Research Council, finds that the current plan...
December 9, 2008 3:54 PM
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How Tailpipes Once Convinced EPA To Tackle Carbon Dioxide
A detailed series on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency running this week in The Philadelphia Inquirer includes new information about how the agency had initially decided to regulate carbon dioxide....
December 9, 2008 11:03 AM
U.K. Judge Dismisses Challenge to Animal-Human Hybrid Research
A long-shot attempt to block U.K. researchers from creating human-animal hybrid cells or embryos has ended quickly, with a judge dismissing a new lawsuit filed by the Christian Legal Centre...
December 9, 2008 10:35 AM
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U.S. Students Make Strides in Math But Not Science
Many educators say that math is getting more attention in U.S. schools, often at the expense of science, under pressure from the Bush Administration to improve math and reading scores...
December 8, 2008 2:13 PM
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NIH: We're Conflict Averse
Worried that the U.S. Congress will force its hand because of public concern, the National Institutes of Health is moving to change its rules on financial conflicts of interest for...
December 8, 2008 2:10 PM
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How Important Is Diversity to U.S. Academics?
Turns out it depends on which type of scientist you ask. As part of its upcoming examination of more than 2000 U.S. doctoral research programs, the National Research Council asked...
December 8, 2008 7:28 AM
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British Biotech Wants Bailout
Move over, Detroit automakers. The United Kingdom’s biotech industry wants a spot among those queuing for government financial help during the global economic downturn. "All of us have concluded that...
December 7, 2008 9:59 PM
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Obama on White House Lectures: Let's Get Subatomic
President-Elect Obama today on Meet the Press, compelling hundreds of scientists to start editing their PowerPoints: MR. BROKAW: Who are the kinds of artists that you would like to bring...
December 5, 2008 2:12 PM
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Disobedient French Researchers Make Government Meetings Moving Targets
Simply holding a meeting is becoming increasingly difficult for the leadership of France's top science agencies as the unionists and researcher-protesters get more and more disruptive. In June, representatives of...
December 5, 2008 9:05 AM
Should Politicians Defer to Scientists?
That's among the questions a new high-powered group in Washington, D.C., will consider as it launches the first major nonpartisan effort to study how the government ought to use scientific...
December 4, 2008 5:46 PM
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Med Centers to Reveal Drug Payment$
Amid growing concerns about hefty payments that some doctors receive from industry, The Cleveland Clinic plans to post this income in a public database, the New York Times reported yesterday....
December 4, 2008 5:35 PM
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Clues on Obama's Stem Cell Plans?
Now it's coming from the horse's mouth. The Center for American Progress, headed by John Podesta, who is also running Barack Obama’s transition team, has spelled out on its Web...
December 4, 2008 1:27 PM
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Cash-Strapped NASA Delays Mars Journey
Grim-faced NASA officials went before the cameras today with bad news for Mars aficionados. Given a series of technical troubles, the agency will delay launch of the Mars Science...
December 4, 2008 11:59 AM
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Brain Trauma From Blasts Prevalent But Hidden
Many U.S. soldiers exposed to blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered brain injuries that never got diagnosed, says the Institute of Medicine today in a report that raises...
December 4, 2008 11:48 AM
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Bill Richardson's Big Picture
When President-elect Barack Obama introduced New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson yesterday as his nominee to be secretary of commerce, both men emphasized that getting Americans back to work would be...
December 4, 2008 11:17 AM
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German Scientist Wins Reprieve for Primate Research
Thanks to a temporary extension granted last week to his animal experiments license, Andreas Kreiter, a neuroscientist at the University of Bremen, can continue his primate research for now—at least...
December 3, 2008 4:42 PM
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Hard Times at Rockefeller U
Rockefeller University President Paul Nurse has joined the growing line of research institution heads who've been forced to deliver bad news to faculty and staff in the wake of the...
December 3, 2008 3:14 PM
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Biosafety Lab Will Be Manhattan Project
Word has leaked out: The new $450 million federal lab to replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center will be built in Manhattan, Kansas. The Associated Press broke the...
December 3, 2008 3:11 PM
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Stem Cell Therapy, Buyer Beware
Worried about quack treatments with stem cells? Take a look at the website of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. It posted a set of guidelines and tips today—just...
December 3, 2008 3:01 PM
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U.S. National Academies Call for "Major Transformation" at EPA
If you think home renovations are a headache, consider risk assessment at the Environmental Protection Agency. The process of determining the health risk of chemicals is often long, expensive, full...
December 3, 2008 2:18 PM
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Troubled Environmental Health Institute Gets New Leader
The National Institutes of Health has a new chief for its environmental health institute, which has been leaderless since David Schwartz left in February under a cloud of controversy. Federal...
December 2, 2008 2:19 PM
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Bioterror Trumps Nuclear Threat
A congressionally appointed commission has been grabbing headlines with its message that the threat of a bioterrorist attack outweighs the risk of a nuclear weapons attack. In its report, World...
December 2, 2008 1:40 PM
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An Academy Connection to China's Tainted Milk?
The recent tainted baby formula scandal in China has focused public attention on the high-tech adulteration of milk with the industrial chemical melamine (Science, 28 November, p. 310). The compound,...
There are 63 entries in this section.
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Previous: November 2008
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Next: January 2009
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